Redesigning the Microsoft Office Ribbon with Community Feedback Hadi Rangin, University of Washington Jeremy Spurlin, Microsoft

Overview Background on Vendor Collaborations The MS Collaboration Journey Microsoft’s Commitment to Accessibility Rationale behind Ribbon Simplification Specifications for the Redesigned Ribbon Demo

Background on Vendor Collaborations Reactive vs. Reactive Accessibility “Reactive accessibility” doesn’t work 14 years’ worth of experience with vendors LMS: Blackboard, D2L, Moodle, Canvas Library: Elsevier, Ebsco, Ex Libris Conferencing Systems: Elluminate, Zoom HR: Elucian, PeopleSoft, Workday Misc: Google, Microsoft, Qualtrics, ServiceNow, PollEverywhere, Trumba, Panopto, Interfolio & many more

Goals of Collaboration Short-term Fix immediate problems Long-term Make accessibility a part of the Design, Development, and Quality Control processes

The MS Collaboration Journey (1/2) Previous collaborations were not quite successful Current collaboration initiated by JJ Cadiz: Head of program management for Outlook (Desktop), principal owner of accessibility for all Outlook clients Active MS Collaborators: Anita Mortaloni, Jeff Kalvass, Stuart Bottom, Crystal Jones (eDAD)

The MS Collaboration Journey (2/2) Collaboration initially focused on Windows Outlook, but has extended to include: MS Word Mac Outlook Windows OS Etc. Monthly Meetings MS Office, Mac Outlook, Windows OS, “Deep- Dive” into Selected Topic Engagement with selected design and redesign projects

Collaboration Workflow Collaboration Members report on issues found Issues are discussed via mailing list and virtual meetings Responsible PMs/engineers are invited to monthly meetings eDAD (Enterprise Disability Answer Desk) records and routes issues to appropriate teams Collaboration team verifies fixes upon receiving eDAD updates Engaged in selected design/redesign projects Focused meetings/in-depth discussion for new ideas Occasional site visits

Collaboration Success Stories and Highlights (1/3) MS Office: Fixed: Duplicated reading of invitees in Win Outlook Calendar, one of Outlook crash scenarios, “Tell Me” focus trap (it is back again), @mentions, e-mail address autocompletion Enhancements: Simplified Word Online Ribbon Adding F6 Pane Navigation Accessibility Checker Redesigned: Alt-text functionality Ongoing Discussions re: Desktop Ribbon

Collaboration Success Stories and Highlights (2/3) Mac Outlook: Fixed: Many keyboard/screen reader navigation paths and interactions, Outlook Contacts, E-mail address autocompletion fix underway Enhancements: Conversation View Syncing Folders and E-mail Summaries Focus Management Utilization of Mac Menu System for Outlook functions Previously unable to read e-mails with SR, now users can read the body of e-mails and interact with links

Collaboration Success Stories and Highlights (3/3) Windows OS: Enhancements: Windows Updates - Released specific policy for educational institutions to provide a means to enforce the “no update operation” during active hour policy Ongoing Discussions: Windows Settings Layout and Navigation File Explorer Adding and Removing Programs Changing Default File Types

Microsoft’s Commitment to Accessibility (1/2) Microsoft mission:  Empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more Office goals:  People with disabilities can create, consume and communicate content on any device; it is easy for everyone to create accessible content Highlights of governance model: this includes leveraging trusted testers for ‘compliance’ aspect, but then extending to ‘real’ customers to get the varied range of perspectives that we need to create a usable product.  This includes PWD testing, usability tests and partnerships like with ATHEN

Microsoft’s Commitment to Accessibility (2/2) Enterprise Disability Answer Desk (eDAD) and Disability Answer Desk (DAD) Free service with support for multiple languages including American Sign Language (ASL) via video calls Ask accessibility questions Report Accessibility Issues Get Conformance Reports Contact Info given at end of presentation

Rationale for Simplified Ribbon Traditional Ribbon is cumbersome & inefficient Increasing discoverability of various functions Making Ribbon structure logical and hierarchical Providing a consistent navigation experience Simplifying categories and groupings Defaulting to commonly used controls instead of complex widgets Improvement to overall usability of ribbon

Specifications for the Redesigned Ribbon (1/6) Simplified Icons More crisp/clean/simplified design Converted images to SVG to allow for Better scaling when high DPI/Zoom scenarios Ability to render accurately in high contrast Navigating to the Ribbon CTRL + F6 navigates around the Canvas, any Panes, Status Bar, Banner, and Ribbon

Specifications for the Redesigned Ribbon (2/6) Definitions: Ribbon (composite toolbar) Tab Headers/Ribbon Tabs (e.g. tab list and tabs) Lower Ribbon (e.g. tab panel) Peripheral Controls (toolbar)

Specifications for the Redesigned Ribbon (3/6) Navigation within the Ribbon Current Tab Loop: Tab List, series of controls within a tab, peripheral controls, file menu launcher Within a “tab stop”, individual controls are navigable with Left/Right Arrow (looping at either end) and Home/End to navigate to the first/last control In the lower ribbon, navigate by category or “chunk” with CTRL + Left/Right Arrow (looping at either end)

Specifications for the Redesigned Ribbon (4/6) Executing and Navigating Various Control Types in Ribbon, Menu, or Submenu SPACE and ENTER both execute the primary function of a button, split button, menu item ALT + DOWN/UP Arrow key will expand/collapse menu launchers (e.g. buttons, split buttons, menu items) RIGHT/LEFT Arrow key will expand/collapse an expandable menu item ESC will close one level of currently expanded menus ALT will close all currently expanded menus/submenus

Specifications for the Redesigned Ribbon (5/6) Navigation within the File Menu ESC closes submenus one level at a time ALT closes all open menus Arrow key navigation UP/DOWN Arrow keys navigate through menu and submenu items RIGHT Arrow key opens submenu LEFT Arrow key closes an opened submenu

Specifications for the Redesigned Ribbon (6/6) General Keytip Design Accelerator keys are visible when CTRL + F6 to navigate to the Ribbon ALT + WIN to enter keytip mode Full accelerator key sequence is on every control (on the aria-describedby to provide the information in a non- intrusive way) Help/learning content for the simplified ribbon There’s the ability to give feedback in application

Live Demo of Word Online Ribbon

Recognition Members of the ATHEN MS Office Collaboration: Patrick Burke, Cliff Tyllick, German Fermin, Lisa Snider, Vance Martin, Current and Former Students: Jenny Bae, Ming Horn, Alexandre Mooc, Eric Peng, Michelle Ho, Brandon Mar, Raven Apigo, Michael Blume, Andrew Siew, ZK Lin Microsoft: JJ Cadiz, Anita Mortaloni, David Gorelik, Peter Frem, Stuart Bottom, Crystal Jones, Seth Messinger, Jeff Bishop, June Lee, Jeremy Spurlin, Theo Lorrain-Hale, Tracy Tran

Contacts and How to Get Involved ATHEN Microsoft Office Collaboration: http://collaborate.athenpro.org/group/msoffice/ ATHEN Mac Outlook Collaboration: http://collaborate.athenpro.org/group/msmacoutlook/ ATHEN Microsoft Windows Collaboration: http://collaborate.athenpro.org/group/mswindows/ eDAD (enterprise Disability Answer Desk): Phone: 1-800-936-5900 Email: eDAD@Microsoft.com Web: aka.ms/eDAD Contacts: Hadi Rangin – hadir@uw.edu Anita Mortaloni – anitase@Microsoft.com

Questions and Answers